Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Voters took the lead on political change in 2018

While those newly elected to work on Capitol Hill may take the lead next year in the debate about revamping the political system, 2018's salient changes were almost entirely made by the voters themselves.

The fight for control of Congress was the dominant story in the midterm election, but a record number of state and local ballot initiatives produced a wave of important if under-heralded shifts in the how democracy gets practiced after this year.


Redistricting: Most significantly, the people of Colorado, Michigan, Missouri and Utah decided in November to take congressional district mapmaking out of the hands of their state legislatures and turn the bulk of the work over to independent commissions. Ohioans made a similar decision in May.

Now a dozen states, which are currently assigned 32 percent of the House seats, will see partisan power plays significantly neutralized in the next decade's redistricting process, which kicks off after the 2020 census.

Coloradans decided they want an independent panel to draw their state legislative boundaries, as well.

Lobbying and Ethics: Voters in a handful of states approved measures to limit the reach of special interests by limiting campaign money and lobbying.

Floridians set some of the tightest rules in the nation on the "revolving door" between public service and advocacy, prohibiting state and local officials from lobbying their former departments, agencies or governing bodies for six years after leaving office.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Missourians compelled a tightening of rules for lobbyists in Springfield and set new campaign finance limits for state legislative candidates.

New Mexicans voted to create a state ethics commission. So did North Dakotans, who also banned foreign donations to candidates in the state and set tightened rules for lobbying and campaign financing in Bismarck. A similar catch-all initiative was rejected next door in South Dakota, but voters there did decide to limit out-of-state donations in future ballot measure campaigns.

In Arizona, by contrast, voters resoundingly approved ending the partisan independence of the state's political watchdog agency, the Clean Elections Commission.

Campaign Finance: Ballot questions aiming to confront the role of money in politics did well.

Massachusetts approved creation of a state commission to press for a constitutional amendment that would restore limits on corporate, union and non-profit political spending by effectively overturning the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision.

And voters in five cities – New York, Baltimore, Denver, St. Louis and Portland, Ore. – set contribution limits in local races or agreed to provide public matching funds to municipal candidates.

Voting Rights: Floridians voted to restore voting rights for all convicted felons, except murderers and sex offenders, once they're out of prison. But Louisianans voted to bar felons from seeking elected office for five years after they do their time.

Maryland and Michigan voters decided to permit Election Day registration at polling places. Michiganders also approved no-excuse absentee voting, straight-party balloting and automatic voter registration for people when they do business with the secretary of state (unless they opt out). Nevadans embraced automatic voter registration for everyone dealing with the state's Department of Motor Vehicles.

But not all the successful ballot initiatives were in the cause of making it easier to vote. Solid majorities in both Arkansas and North Carolina, for example, decided to require voters to show a valid photo ID before casting ballots. And Montana voters decided by two-to-one, a to restrict absentee voting.

Read More

Ken Powley
Team Democracy

Meet the change leaders: Ken Powley

Nevins is co-publisher ofThe Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of theBridge Alliance Education Fund.

Ken Powley and Chris Newlon founded Team Democracy in early 2021. Its signature initiative is the nonpartisan Safe and Fair Election Pledge. The pledge is designed to create an important piece of common ground where Americans — including their elected representatives — can join together from opposite sides of the aisle in committing themselves to protecting the most essential guardrails of American democracy: safe and fair elections, and the peaceful transfer of power.

Keep ReadingShow less
Drawing of a scene from "Alice in Wonderland"

Alice attends the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, iIllustration by Sir John Tenniel.

Andrew_Howe

We live in our own version of Wonderland

Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Alice cried after falling down the rabbit hole in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

In nearly every arena of our lives we might observe the same, from our changing climate and increasingly high-stakes global conflicts, to space travel, energy conservation and the accelerating use of artificial intelligence. And, of course, in our volatile politics. Things are indeed getting curiouser.

Keep ReadingShow less
NVIDIA headquarters

Our stock market pivots on the performance of a handful of AI-focused companies like Nvidia.

hapabapa/Getty Images

We may face another 'too big to fail' scenario as AI labs go unchecked

Frazier is an assistant professor at the Crump College of Law at St. Thomas University and a Tarbell fellow.

In the span of two or so years, OpenAI, Nvidia and a handful of other companies essential to the development of artificial intelligence have become economic behemoths. Their valuations and stock prices have soared. Their products have become essential to Fortune 500 companies. Their business plans are the focus of the national security industry. Their collapse would be, well, unacceptable. They are too big to fail.

The good news is we’ve been in similar situations before. The bad news is we’ve yet to really learn our lesson.

Keep ReadingShow less
Woman dancing

Mexican Independence Day celebration in Chicago

We must welcome in Latine unity

Marín is the co-creator and community advocate at BECOME. Rodríguez is the co-executive director of Enlace Chicago.

The Welcoming Neighborhood Listening Initiative delves into the dynamic social landscape of Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, exploring resident perspectives on the influx of new neighbors seeking asylum. The study moves beyond traditional data collection to activate community members as leaders in driving transformative solutions. Ultimately, the report emphasizes the importance of culturally responsive training and community dialogues to foster understanding, bridge cultural divides and build a more inclusive Little Village for all.

Chicago just marked Mexican Independence Day with a reinstated celebration of El Grito in downtown and an annual parade in La Villita, a primarily Mexican neighborhood also known as Little Village. These festivities kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month, which celebrates the independence of Mexico along with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Chile.

Keep ReadingShow less

Meet the change leaders: Pearce Godwin

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

Pearce Godwin is founder of the Listen First Project and the #ListenFirst Coalition of 500 organizations bringing Americans together across differences to listen, understand each other and discover common interests.

He catalyzes the movement to save America from toxic polarization by shifting social norms from division, distrust, contempt and violence toward connection, understanding and belonging. Pearce manages large-scale, co-created endeavors such as Meeting of America and the annual National Week of Conversation to engage as many Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs as possible to turn down the heat and find a way forward together.

Keep ReadingShow less